Why do students fail out of Ross University?

This is a very common question.  A lot of students who haven't started med school at Ross tend to either assume a long of things or over simplify it all with broad strokes (which is natural).  You can't answer the question correctly without putting it into context of the schedule itself.  Let me answer this question the best way I know how:

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Imagine yourself starting off at Ross. You do everything you think is right and you're killing yourself (along with everyone one else) making the adjustments to the island and keeping up with the workload. 4 weeks pass. Mini 1 comes and goes, you get the results and they're terrible. It's now week 5 and only now that you're able to make the connection between the lectures, online resources, recommended reading, and the questions on the Mini itself. Now you have a better idea on what to look for during lecture and what to focus on when you're studying -- but it's already week 5.

You make some adjustments but you don't really know if it's going to work out or not. You're studying hard for Mini 2, but you also studied hard for Mini 1. Basically, you're not a believer in the fact that the adjustments you've made are really going to work out or not. This is on top the increased work load. Now you have a histology practical and anatomy practical taking up your time, breaking up your adjusted study habits (that you're not a believer in just yet). This is on top of even less time to study because PBL is now scheduled for every week, leading to Mini 2, making it feel like you have half the time to study on that day (either Wednesday or Friday). So you have less time to study, you have more to study for, and you're not a believer in the adjustments you've made because you'll only know if they've worked or not when you get the next Mini results back. It's the end of week 8 and Mini 2 comes and goes.

Now it's week 9. Now you have 5 weeks until Mini 3. For Mini 2, you did okay in some areas and in others, you think you could have done much better (or maybe you just bombed it again). There are more practicals and the rest is just more of the same. Lots of the material is new and standalone (which is good for you). But even with the new standalone material (like cardio and respirator physiology), you're still behind because a lot of the clinical correlates that you should have learned already in the past 8 week are coming up again and again. It all sounds familiar but you have to re-learn it once more when it should just be review. Two-thirds of the semester is gone (in what's really 13 weeks of lecture), nearly half of the grades have been given out, and you're still sitting at or below the minimum passing score for the majority of your subjects. 4 weeks pass.

It's week 12, you've taken the rest of the practicals and all that's left is Mini 3 and the final. Over half of the grades have been recorded, you're still not doing too good, but the rest of it will be decided in the next 2 weeks. You've made further adjustments since Mini 2, you think you've got this time, but there's only 1 week left.

You take Mini 3 and the final.

I wonder how you did?

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This isn't true for everyone.  I've said many times that there are other students in which all of this comes naturally.  Maybe this is because they were tested in much the same way during undergrad or maybe it's because they tested themselves in much the same way for the MCAT.  Who knows?  But the rest of us are kind of at the mercy of all of this.  Some of them do pretty good, some of them barely pass, some of them barely fail, and the rest are never seen from again.  Some of these people could be perfectly intelligent people but the adjustments they made were either ineffective or it was week 9 and it was already too late.

I believe that many more students would pass if Ross had 4 or 5 Minis spread out through the semester instead of 3.  It's all about adjustments and with your only real indicator for how effective you're studying comes at week 5 and your only real confirmation for the adjustments you've made comes at week 9, it doesn't leave much room for those necessary adjustments.